Hi all,
I want to get back into sports shooting and bought an air rifle (Gamo).
In Portugal I used to go to a gun range where I would pay 5 euros and I could shoot at will, both air guns and .22lr.
I haven’t gone down the road of getting a proper gun in Switzerland but I would like to find a range/place to shoot the air gun around Zurich.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
It’s not in Zurich, but close → https://www.schiessstand.ch/
It’s a good friend of mine, he has countless weapons and is a really experienced and knowledgable shooter. If you go there, tell him Dimitri sent you 
FPSRussia, is that you?
Sorry, couldn’t help myself!
It’s a Greek name 
One example (went there for a company event).
But it won’t be 5 eur for sure. 
Especially if you need to rent the weapon
Ideally I don’t want to rent a weapon.
I would like to go back to practicing with my Gamo:
This is a pellet gun (.177) which doesn’t require any acquisition permit as far as I understand it.
Paying 30-50 francs per visit isn’t really ideal but I am guessing that’s the price?
Any other options you suggest? (joining a gun club perhaps?)
Thank you!
Speaking about firearms and not air guns: if you want to shoot at small distance of 10-20m or so, there is a decent choice of private walk-in ranges around Zurich (Lakeside Shooting in Horgen, Swiss Shooting Group in Spreitenbach, etc.) - but a lane will cost around 50-60chf per hour, yes.
For longer distances, 300m ranges are quite literally everywhere but these are normally reserved for clubs and club members. Joining one would definitely make shooting cheaper if you do it regularly but it normally comes with a lot of limitations w.r.t. a private range, both in terms of date/times for shooting and also specific guns that are allowed to be shot - so you’d need to study around whether they would even allow you to shoot your rifle there. You can search for “schiessverein” and almost every gemeinde or city will have one or several.
There are long-rage private ranges (e.g. Brunig Indoor) but these are much more sparse.
All of the above is about firearms, it could be that there are much easier and cheaper solutions for air rifles, but I am not aware of these
I think this might depend on whether you have C permit or Swiss citizenship.
Things that have muzzle energy of 7.5j or more OR things that resemble a real firearm are classified as “weapons” under Swiss law, specifically the softest class of weapons: “Weapons that have to be declared”. That means that C permit holders or Swiss citizens can freely buy one but then need to declare it. However, if you do not have C permit or Swiss citizenship even the acquisition of a “weapon that have to be declared” required a gun acquisition permit.
See Weapons / Ammunition and Weapons that have to be declared
Specifically it says:
Foreign nationals who do not possess a long-term residence permit require an acquisition permit for all types of weapons and their essential components.
At a minimum, you have to register it. Heck, you even have to register air-soft and paintball guns.
Thank you for the comprehensive answer.
I will get my C Permit soon, so after that I can more easily get what I used to have in Portugal (.22lr rifle/pistol). I feel a bit sad that I let my firearms permit expire in Portugal since that would make it easier to buy something while on the B permit.
That is just a couple of months away so no worries 
Any recommendation on gun stores around Zurich? Near Horgen is even better.
Good, thank you for the info
I love to shoot and found it very meditative to spend an hour at the range. I haven’t really bothered to do it here as it’s more regulated and I suspect a lot more expensive.
I used to shoot in Texas and miss the more relaxed gun culture there. You had people carrying or driving with a shotgun in their car and nobody would bat an eyelid.
And they were so friendly too. I remember finishing a session and chatting to a couple who were waiting to shoot and the lady was super excited to show me her new Baby Pink AR-15 with Hello Kitty decals 
Yeah that’s true, but if you are about to get the C permit anyway - that one should indeed open pretty much all doors. You’ll be able to buy air rifles and also bolt action firearms without a permit, and even for other firearms requiring a permit (waffenerwerbsschein) - this should be fairly straightforward to get on a C permit
https://www.gunshopschweiz.ch would be the closest to you then probably, I went there a couple of times and it wasn’t bad.
I personally like http://gunfactory.ch very much - really nice folks with great advice and customer service.
There is also lagardere.ch very far away, with unbeatable prices (sometimes 20% less then everywhere else) with the worst customer service you’ll ever experience. But if you know exactly what you want, you can order it online and save some bucks (and yes, they will ship guns and ammo to your home with a totally normal package that the delivery guy might just drop outside of your home and walk away :D)
Sorry but that’s just dumb yanks - not what you’re saying, but what you’re describing. An AR-15 has no place in Walmart, really no place. Americans go on about Switzerland’s “permissive” gun laws and fail to also note the restrictions like…not open carrying a damn serious weapon to get Chicken McSlurpy at McD’s…
I used to be member of a rifle club (Coventry & Warwickshire) when I was in the UK, had (rented) 0.22 rifles. Personally I love revolvers and even considered getting one here in CH but my wife is categorically, redline, divorce-level against it
This might quickly lead throw the thread to dangerous waters… 
To avoid it, it’s enough to leave out moral judgements.
Same here.
My favorite mark is is the S&P heatmap (
) and my favorite weapons are FASTgraphs for target selection and IBKR for actual shooting. I’m practicing both direct shots (buy/sell) as well as betting on other shooters buying and selling (options).
I’ll see myself out, thanks.
Sorry about the shooting noise.I did the laughing emoji - but only because it was the closest thing to a facepalm emoji.
on what distance you would like to shoot with this gun?
Certainly a membership at a Kleinkaliberverein does not cost 50-70.- per visit
